Jasubhai, S. · Journal of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Care · 2021
Both EFT and CBT produced significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms with concurrent improvement in short-term memory and psychophysiological coherence; EFT showed marked improvement in depression after just 3 sessions.
This trial captured an objective marker of autonomic nervous system balance — heart-rate coherence — right alongside memory testing and mood scores, so the improvements aren't resting on self-report alone; if replicated at scale, it looks like tapping is measurably calming the nervous system and clearing mental bandwidth at the same time.
Picture a young adult in a country where the ratio of trained mental health professionals to population is a fraction of what's needed elsewhere. If tapping's speed advantage here holds up, it could offer a faster-acting option in systems where every session with a scarce therapist counts — and one that, once learned, needs no further therapist time to keep using.
With psychophysiological coherence and heart rate already captured via emWave, the next question is sequencing: does coherence rise first, within a session, and then predict who improves most on depression and short-term memory weeks later? Layering salivary cortisol into a larger trial comparing EFT to CBT dose-for-dose would help settle whether tapping's speed advantage — marked improvement after just 3 sessions here — reflects a real physiological fast-track or a smaller study's noise.
| Design | Randomized trial |
|---|---|
| Participants | 14 people |
| Population | young adults in Ahmedabad, India, screened for stress, anxiety, and depression |
| Comparison group | cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) |
| Outcome measures | DASS-21, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2), Digit Span test (short-term memory), emWave psychophysiological coherence and heart rate |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Care |
| Year | 2021 |
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Method | EFT / tapping |
| Publication type | Study / trial |
| Verification | ✓ Confirmed against the primary source |
Jasubhai, S. (2021). Efficacy of Emotional Freedom Technique and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on stress, anxiety, depression, short-term memory, psychophysiological coherence and heart rate in Indian adults. Journal of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Care. https://doi.org/03.2021/1.10025
This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/tapping. Explore more studies on Anxiety · Depression · Stress & Cortisol · How It Works (Biology)
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